. >> that was speaker of the house, john boehner, talking about the looming fiscal cliche. republicans are ready to sit down at the table with president obam a. but is he prepared to compromise? listen to when he had to say earlier today. >> i want to be clear. i am not wedded to every dedale tail of my plan. i am open to compromise. i am not going to ask students and seniors and middle-class families to pay down the entire deficit while people like me making over $250,000 are not asked to pay a dime more in taxes. i am not going to do that. i want to point out, this was a central question during the election. it was debated over and over again. and on tuesday night, we found out that the majority of americans agree with my approach. and that includes democrat independents and a lot of republicans, throughout the country, as well as independent economists and budget experts. that's how you reduce the deficit. a balanced approach. so our job is to get a majority in congress to reflect the will of the american people. >> joining me with reaction are the author of who is the f